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On Tuesday, the Babe.net writer behind this week's allegations of sexual misconduct against Aziz Ansari was invited to appear on Ashleigh Banfield's show on HLN. She politely declined. Oh wait, she did the opposite. "I would NEVER go on your network. I would never even watch your network. No woman my age would ever watch your network," Business Insider quotes an email sent from Babe's Katie Way to HLN as saying. "And I will laugh the day you fold." Important backstory: On Monday, Banfield criticized Way's article for being harmful to the #MeToo movement. At issue is where each sees the line for sexual harassment, Mediaite reports. What "Grace" in Way's story calls "the worst night of my life" was, in Banfield's words, just "a bad date." Banfield said Way's story takes away from what she sees as real sexual harassment and assault.

Banfield read portions of Way's response email on air Tuesday. "Ashleigh, someone who I am certain nobody under the age of 45 has ever heard of, I hope the 500 retweets on the single news write-up made that burgundy-lipstick, bad-highlights, second-wave-feminist has-been really relevant for a little while," the email states. Way also accuses Banfield of attacking Grace "in one of the most vulnerable moments of her life." Banfield responded that "if you truly believe in women's rights, if you truly believe in feminism, the last thing you should do is attack someone in an ad hominem way for her age." Meanwhile, Slate takes a deeper look at Babe, which focuses on "vulgar tomfoolery" and reportedly boasts an editorial staff with no member older than 25. Slate concludes Babe is "fun and well-meaning but unabashedly a bit of a mess." (Read more HLN stories.)

THIS is why many men (and women) don't take accusations of sexual misconduct seriously. An anonymous accusation with no evidence, offered later (in many cases, years later) and we should believe it just...because? Hello no; report it. Report it right away. Otherwise, don't be surprised if you aren't believed later.

scout

Jan 20, 2018 8:45 PM CST

Harthorne, must include at least one descriptive sentence about each vague clause of whatever so that those of us that don't follow whatever can sort out what you're writing about. My lean is that you're doing what you do well, playing the comic grounded in Marxist Fascist regressive nonsense. You have to remember that there are about 200 million Americans left in this country and we're kinda mad as hell. When you make fun of lipstick, well, you will soon learn what hate is about from women.

Nasochkas

Jan 19, 2018 4:35 PM CST

Wow what a nasty piece of work. Good luck getting hired by anyone older than you once this stupid babe gig is over.